APPLICATION OF PBIS WITHIN A CENTER-BASED PRESCHOOL

January, 17 2013MAASE – SLIP Conference

Denise Ludwig, Ph.D.David Ames, LMSW

Melissa Mercer, LMSWGRAND RAPIDS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Learner Objectives• Participants will be able to describe the purpose and rationale of applying

Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) to preschool classroom, home and community settings

• Participants will be able to identify family roles in implementation of PBIS within home and community settings

• Participants will be able to describe the process used to implement PBIS for the birth to five year old population through staff development, learning walks, and teaching new and expanded skills to replace challenging behaviors within the classroom, home and community settings

Program Components

• County wide home based services for birth through 5 years old

• Parent groups• Cross categorical ECSE classrooms• Co-teaching and cluster inclusion models• Transdisciplinary related services team• Community based instruction

PBIS: Defined

- an evidence-based approach that focuses on teaching new skills and replacement behaviors to modify and change undesired behavior

- for preschool = develop staff skill sets in use of parent coaching and classroom strategies for prevention and replacement behaviors

Why did we align and implement PBIS with the birth – five year population?

How did we align and implement PBIS with the birth – five year population?

Process for Implementing PBIS within a Center-Based Preschool Provide staff training regarding PBIS

Staff identify critical elements of PBIS Initiative expectations as related to the birth-five year population Staff define ‘behavior’ (for both classroom and home) and ‘strategies’ as related to the birth-five year population Develop PBIS Team

Develop BERT Team

PBIS Team identify evidence-based strategies for implementation

PBIS Team develop staff manual for implementation (including embedding expectations within lesson plan routines, documentation formats, common vocabulary, resources, seamless service procedures)

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS continued PBIS Team develops parent manual for implementation, including

parent ‘contract’

• Align PBIS terminology with customer-district expectations

Implement strategies using classroom routines and parent coaching model

Complete Learning Walks for classroom and home community programs

PBIS Team evaluate data

Ongoing evaluation of PBIS Process

Alignment of Preschool PBIS Model with Elementary Model

Elementary Model Preschool Model

• Prevention• Universal Expectations for behavior• All areas of the school• Positive attention and reinforcement of expected

behaviors• Promote core values of respect, responsibility and safety• Predictable consequences• Interventions and strategies are taught to reinforce expectations• Responding to inappropriate behavior

• Prevention• Universal Expectations for behavior• All areas of home, community and school• Positive attention and reinforcement of expected behaviors• Participation in home and school routines, social play and safety• Cued consequences• Relative frequency of re-teaching and reinforcing expectations• Identifying and teaching replacement behavior

Framework for Viewing Behaviors in Preschoolers

• All behaviors meet a need• All behaviors have a purpose• All behaviors serve a communicative intent• All behaviors are dependent on skills sets• All behaviors are reflective of environmental ecology• Interpretation of behavior utility is determined by classroom team and/or parents

PBIS Team

• School Social Workers• Teachers• Service Coordinators• School Psychologist• Administratorand for 0-3• Parents/Guardians

What B.E.R.T. is….•A response to an extreme student behavior that cannot be dealt with by classroom staff alone.•A team to provide support when one-on-one intervention is required and help is needed to maintain student learning and safety. •Staff members who will remove other students from the area of an emergency in order to ensure safety and continued learning.

What B.E.R.T. is not…

•Not a M.E.R.T. call.•Not a Security drill (Code Red).•Not a response to a known, expected, or frequent behavior.•Not an exemption from dealing with challenging behaviors from students.

Wellerwood Early Childhood CenterKen-O-Sha Preschool2010-2013

Welcome to B.E.R.T.(Behavior Emergency Response Team)B.E.R.T. is an in-building team that will aid classroom staff during extreme behavioral emergencies by keeping other students safe and away from the student who is experiencing the extreme distress.

PBIS Team Reviews Incidence and Evidence-Based Strategies

• Incidence of Challenging Behavior: What Does the Research say?

--Children with DISABILITIES exhibit challenging behavior three times more often than children without disabilities (Hemmeter, Ostrosky, & Fox, 2006, U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001)

--10% to 40% of INFANTS AND TODDLERS WITH DISABILITIES exhibit behavioral challenges (23rd Report to Congress on IDEA, 2001)

Incidence of Challenging Behavior: What Does the Research say?

-- The prevalence of SEVERE behavior problems is estimated at 3-6% of the general preschool population and 30% among LOW-INCOME preschoolers (Qi & Kaiser, 2003)

-- There is a CORRELATION between LANGUAGE DISORDERS and PROBLEM BEHAVIORS for BOYS (Beitchman, et al, 2001; Feil, 2000**)

THE REALITY

For a parent with a 2-YEAR OLD with Challenging Behavior, the INCIDENCE is 100%

Professional Development

• School-wide expectations• Acknowledgment system• Positively stated expectations• Organized and predictable environment• Co-teaching• Home visit expectations• Staff manual• Family focused interventions for birth – three (strategies for

teaching specific behaviors, strategies for responding to inappropriate behavior)

Preschool Classroom Model Universal Expectations

Listening Ears

We do this by:•Following Directions•Responding to others

Walking Feet

We do this by:•Walking into and out of the building•Walking instead of running•Keeping feet on the floor

Looking Eyes

We do this by:•Looking at the teacher•Looking at toys•Looking at friends

Gentle Hands

We do this by:•Keeping hands to self•Using gentle touch•Being gentle with friends

Be A Friend

We do this by:•Saying hello and goodbye•Sharing toys•Waiting for your turn

Be Ready To Learn

We do this by:•Hanging up backpack•Putting away belongings•Cleaning up•Trying all activities

PBIS Staff Manual 1. Components of PBIS:

– Clearly Defined Behavior Expectations– Acknowldeging and Reinforcing Target Behaviors– Consistently Responding to Challenging Behaviors

2. School-Wide Expectations3. Behavior Expectation Matrix4. Instructional Expectations for Lesson Plans5. Understanding Behaviors6. Universal Classroom Activities and Methods7. BERT8. Home Community Parent coaching Elements9. Acknowledgement System10. Functional Assessment11. BIP12. Parent Manual

Home Community Service: Individualized Expectations

•Service Coordinator discusses “Framework for Viewing Behaviors in Preschoolers”•Parent(s) and Service Coordinator determine expectations•Parent Coaching for Strategies to respond to inappropriate behaviors•Parent Coaching for Strategies to teach new replacement behaviors•Embedded with Daily Routines

CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR

• Disrupted Sleeping or Eating Routines• Physical Aggression• Verbal Aggression or Screaming• Throwing or Breaking Things• Severe Tantrums• Head Banging or Other Self-Injurious Behavior• Noncompliance• Withdrawal• New developmental skills

What is a Challenging Behavior?

A “Challenging Behavior” is any repeated pattern of behavior that interferes with • engagement in healthy social interactions• participating in the classroom or home routine• learning new things with peers and adults

REASONS FOR CHALLENGING BEHAVIORS

1. To obtain/gain attention, desired object, desired activity, sensory stimulation

2. To avoid/escape (difficult task, boring task, physical demand, non-preferred activity,

parent/peer/adult

Who Determines If a Behavior is Challenging?

Challenging Behaviors are defined by classroom teams and individual families.

Classroom teams determine child behavior as a function of participation in age appropriate activities/routines.

Families’ perceptions of what constitutes an appropriate or inappropriate behavior are different, and dependent upon familial culture and values.

Establish the Parent’s Concern(s)

• Allow the family to identify the behavior they would like to see change

• Each family may have different priorities

Why Encourage Family Participation

• Parents are the primary variable in their child’s development both now and in the future

• Parents know their child best

• Parents will always be present

• Parents have a real interest in seeing change

Support for Use of PBIS with Families

• Key principles in family centered service1. family empowerment2. social supports3. building relationships as the basis for interventions4. communication5. parent access to information/services (Ludwig, D., 2009; Resch, J. 2010)

HOME PRACTICES: Identify Family Structure

Variables that may impact family routines and practices:– Family history– Values– Personal parenting style– Make up of home– Resources available– Parents own experiences growing up– Parents physical and mental health– Parents schedules (jobs, etc…)

HOME PRACTICES: Build a Relationship

• Respect the familial structure

• Accept a parent’s truth (this may not change so work with it)

• Practice active listening

• Approach the situation with a “not knowing” attitude

• Emphasize a parent’s strengths

• Allow the family to set the agenda

• Focus on functional goals for real activities

HOME PRACTICES: Why Use Routines

• Natural places and activities that happen in a child’s life

• Use of contexts in which a child needs to learn new skills

• Use of natural and logical reinforcers –take into account a child’s preferences

• Promote the development of new communication and social skills in predictable settings

• Allow for maintenance and generalization

• Develop functional and meaningful plans that provide opportunities to practice new skills

WHY PBIS HELPS PARENTS TO UNDERSTAND BEHAVIOR?

Traditional response to challenging behaviors at home may be punishment….

use of harsh punitive discipline is associated with an escalation of Challenging Behaviors…….

Understanding the Child’s Behavior

Understand the function or purpose of the behavior

1. Decide which behavior is interfering with participation in home routines. Which routines?

2. Decide how you want that behavior to change.3. Observe the challenging behavior. What happens before and after the

behavior?4. Develop an understanding of the purpose of the behavior5. Modify the environment to increase desired new behavior6. Identify new skills to teach (to get the same result)7. Match the intervention to the purpose of the behavior

Focus on the purpose of the behavior.

Coaching Parents in Viewing Behavior

• How do you respond to your toddler’s or preschooler’s challenging behavior?

• What have you done in response to his/her behavior?• How do you feel when he/she acts this way?• What has happened before this behavior?• How do you think your child feels?• Why do you think your child is behaving this way?• Have there been any changes in your home that might help us

understand?• How have these behaviors changed your relationship with

your child?

PBIS STRATEGIES: Use Prevention Strategies

• Teach clear expectations for behavior within routines

• Focus on presence of a positive behavior• Address the environment to modify future

behaviors

PBIS STRATEGIES: Use Prevention Strategies

• Change the physical environment to support new skills (make challenging behavior irrelevant)

• Use verbal, visual, and auditory cues to signal the beginning and end of an activity

• Provide visual schedules• Select reinforcer prior to activity• Adapt and adjust expectations• Break expectations into steps• In the classroom have activities prepared and accessible• Provide choices• Provide an effective communication system for every child

PBIS STRATEGIES: Teach Replacement Behaviors

• Teach an alternate behavior to serve the same purpose • Teach a behavior that helps the child reach the purpose

quicker and easier than the challenging behavior

• When the purpose of the behavior cannot be honored (e.g. kicking and screaming), teach a skill that will result in a desired outcome, not just replace the behavior

PBIS STRATEGIES: Teach Replacement Behaviors

Teach a child functional ways to communicate desires such as:

– to request help– Request attention appropriately– Request a break– Say “No” or “All done”– Identify and express feelings

PBIS STRATEGIES: Teach Replacement Behaviors

• Use A Least to Most Prompting Procedure• Use Errorless Learning• Teach a child to wait for a reinforcer• Teach expected behaviors in every part of the

routine • Use Over correction• Teach during planned activities as well as

teachable moments

PBIS STRATEGIES: Responses to Challenging Behavior

• Redirect/cue to use appropriate “new replacement skill”• State “exactly” what is expected• Use “wait-time”• Praise/reinforce when replacement behavior is performed• Use common and consistent language• Offer acceptable choices• Do not allow a child to escape expectations via the use of

challenging behaviors

Not SWIS…CHEDDARChild Educational Data Determines Appropriate Responses

•Classroom documentation•Concern identified at home with parent

PBIS Works

• An integrated approach to applying PBIS within the home can lead to positive outcomes for both children and their parents.

Why PBIS Works for Children

• It creates a shared experiences where adults and the environments respond predictably

• It creates shared expectations where adults expect and teach same skills

• It increases functional skills for children that are useful and generalize to multiple settings

Why PBIS Works for Parents

• It provides evidence-based supports to address their child’s behavior

• It respects each child and family as unique• It can be imbedded within a family’s daily

routine• It focuses on teaching the skills parents want

their child to learn

Why PBIS Works for Center-based Preschool Programs

• It is an evidenced-based practice• It focuses on teaching• It is individualized to meet every child’s needs• It creates a predictable environment that

allows for multiple learning opportunities • It can be imbedded in all parts of a child’s day• It prepares children for their receiving

program

APPLICATION OF PBIS WITHIN A CENTER-BASED PRESCHOOL

Thank you !